Tales of Unova: Black and White
by kawei
Summary: Novelization of the Black and White games. Join Touya, Cheren, and Bianca as they travel through the Unova region to travel, battle, capture, meet people, have fun, argue...and grow.
1. Chapter 1

Hi...man it's been a long time since I posted something here...Anyway, the new pokemon versions Black and White have been gaining a lot of hype among my friends and out of boredom and curiosity I decided to write a fic based on the new games.

Since this is basically a novelization I'll try to make it as close to the games as possible but I don't exactly own the games yet and am currently working with the many video walkthroughs on good ol youtube.

Anyway, here's the fic; please enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: nope, don't own pokemon...kinda a shame... :(

Chapter 1:

In the grand, dim lit hall of an unknown castle, a large group of people, old, young, and in between, had gathered. The people stood in huddled positions and whispered amongst themselves in a controlled, yet chaotic manner, obviously waiting in anticipation for things to come.

"Where is the King?" A man clad in a medieval knight reminiscent outfit whispered. "When is he coming?"

"Silence boy," A significantly older man, clad in elaborate long robes barked. "The King shall come; do not show your disrespect through your impatience!"

Five others, dressed in similar garbs as the older man nodded in agreement while the younger man flushed in embarrassment and quietly slunk away mumbling apologizes. His peers who had bore witness to the exchanged let out their smirks and chuckles but all humor was quickly shot down by the men in robes. There was no place for childish humor here; today was a important day after all!

Suddenly, the doors slammed open and everyone in the hall soon turned their attention towards the end of the halls. Through the open doors, a man with long grey-green hair wearing a robe reminiscent of a castle and a monocle that seemed to be made out of a broken masquerade mask entered the great hall. The monocle clad man stance was proud and graceful and in his hands held a simple gold crown. At the sight of the man, who, no doubt, must have been a big deal, the crowds of people in the hall quickly and orderly moved the far sides of the hall like the parting Red Sea, easily making a pathway leading towards a simple beige throne located at the other end of the room.

A determined casual smile on his face, the man in the monocle reached the throne and turned to face the audience assembled before him. Throwing his arms up in the air and pointing towards the door, the people in the hall once again turned towards the door to see a new figure enter.

This newcomer was younger than the man that walked through the hall before him, but no one could deny the striking resemblance between the two of them; family members perhaps? The young man walked down the path of people, all eyes on him. Some looking down at him with curious judging, others staring at him with incredible awe, and others smirking at him with an expression that just screamed: "this should be fun!"

Discreetly shifting his cloak so it wouldn't tangle in his legs, the young man ignored the various looks sent his ways and continued his way towards the throne. Closing his eyes, he was almost immediately assaulted by memories of himself in a younger, more innocent time frolicking with various pokemon. The trip down memory lane continued and he slightly flinched as the images grew darker and darker. Hands shaking under his cloak, he quickly regained his composure and opened his eyes which were now shining with intense determination. The older man saw the change in the younger man's demeanor and gave him an approving, fatherly smile. As the younger man approached the throne, the older man lifted the crown up and ceremoniously placed it upon his head. Standing before the throne, the cloaked man looked out towards the people before him who had knelt into a low bow and raised his hand out as if he was about to give a pledge. Placing a reassuring hand upon the newly crowned boy's shoulder, the older man raised his other arm towards the masses and let out a proclamation:

"The King has finally been crowned! Let the revolution begin!"

The crowd's roars of approval were deafening.

"So...what do you think is in it?" A boy with messy brown hair and kind brown eyes asked, adjusting the red and white hat on his head as he pointed at the metal briefcase sitting benignly on the coffee table in his room. The boy wore a simple hooded light blue jacket with dark grey pants and sat cross legged at the table, squirming in impatience; you could tell he hated waiting.

"It's difficult to say," A bespectacled boy with long dark hair and blue eyes said, pushing his glasses up with his finger. "I have to admit though, I am quite curious as to what Professor Juniper has sent us."

"Maybe we should just open it now, get all this suspense and tension done and over with." The brown haired boy, leaning closer to the briefcase, ready to snatch it off the table.

"Tempting prospect, but no, we will not." His dark haired companion said as he absentmindedly smoothed out the creases in his blue blazer. "We still need to wait for Bianca."

"But Cheren, we texted her an hour ago!" The brown haired boy whined as he fell, back first, onto the floor and began to flail his arms and legs in a comical manner. "I'm tired of waiting and the suspense is killing me; I gotta know what's in the box!"

"It's a briefcase and it was addressed to the three of us." The glasses wearing Cheren sighed as he picked up a book and began to leaf through its pages. "You really do need to work on your patience Touya; your lack of it is unbefitting of a sixteen year old."

"I'm not impatient!" The brown haired Touya yelled indignantly, moving in order to sit upright. "I just hate waiting!"

"...that's what it means to be impatient." Cheren deadpanned, causing his friend to fall over again. "You're such an idiot sometimes."

"Hey I resent that!" Touya yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the bespectacled boy. "And just because I don't sit around all alone and read the dictionary all day means you're better than me!"

"I do not sit around all alone and read the dictionary all day." Cheren replied, a spark of annoyance in his voice. "It's a perfectly common word. Maybe if you dug your head out of your video games for once you wouldn't be so ignorant."

Touya let the remark sink in before letting out a frustrated yell and turned away from the other boy, arms crossed and lips pouted as Cheren let out a satisfied smirk and continued to flip through the pages of the book. It was a fairly common occurrence between the two. Either Touya or Cheren would instigate the argument and they would rebuke each other back and forth until Cheren would inevitably deliver a comment Touya couldn't counter and the latter would just turn away and sulk while the former would bask in victory. It really never changed and Touya still had yet manage to win an argument against Cheren.

The two sat in companionable silence for a few more minutes before the door to Touya's room opened and a girl around their age with short blond hair and friendly green eyes wearing a white dress with an orange dress topped off with a large green beret walked in. She looked a touch ragged but still managed to keep a friendly smile on her face. The two boys noticed her frazzled appearance right away but didn't say anything about it; they knew why she was in such a state. They hadn't been best friends forever for nothing after all.

"Hey Bianca," Touya said, a grin forming on his face. She was always more pleasant to deal with than ol' stick in the mud Cheren. "You had us waiting."

"Sorry I'm late guys," the blond girl, Bianca sighed as she collapsed at the table sitting between the two boys. "It was just..."

"Nah don't worry about it," Touya interrupted, waving her apology off. "Better late than never right?"

"For once I agree with Touya," Cheren said, causing the other boy's eyes to widen comically. "We know, so don't worry so much."

Bianca stared at her two friend's words and smiled as the loving, understanding messages sank in. She was really glad to have the two of them. "Thanks guys," She said, giving both of them a brilliant smile that the both of them returned.

"Now that is a Bianca worthy smile!" Touya exclaimed, jumping to his feet, somewhat shocking his two friends. "And now before this warm, fuzzy feeling gets too much for my manly heart to bear, let's get down to business!"

Bianca giggled at Touya's antics while Cheren rolled his eyes before standing up himself, brushing off imaginary dirt from his black slacks as he did so, and made his way towards the object that called all of them here today; the metal briefcase.

"Yes," the dark haired boy said as he tapped the briefcase with this finger. "Let's 'get down to business' indeed."

"Awesome!" Touya yelled as he rushed towards the case, jumping up and down like a small hyperactive child on Christmas morning. "Let's crack this thing open!"

"Wait a minute," Bianca said, a confused frown forming on her face as she pointed at the briefcase. "What is that?"

"It's a metal briefcase," Cheren answered dryly, much to Bianca's annoyance and Touya's amusement; Cheren was a pretty funny guy...when you weren't on the receiving end on one of his sarcastic quips, because then he's just a jerk. "As to what's inside it, we don't know. It's a gift from Professor Juniper addressed to all of us and now that you're here we can finally find out what's inside."

"Well don't just explain it!" Touya said impatiently. "Open it!"

"Yeah Cheren," Bianca agreed, standing up herself in order to get a better look at the briefcase. "Touya might get a stroke if you keep tormenting him any longer with all this suspense."

"The world might be a better place though." Cheren joked, ignoring Touya's indignant cry and Bianca's light giggle. "But yes, let's see what we have here."

And with a swift, over technical motion, the bespectacled boy opened the case and the three friends peered in to see what was inside.

"Oh my..." Bianca gasped as she clasped her hands together, not entirely believing her eyes.

"No way..." Cheren mumbled, speechless for once in his life.

"...freaking awesome..." Touya said with bated breath, his eyes shining madly in excitement.

In the now open briefcase was a note, no doubt from Professor Juniper but, and much more importantly to the three teenagers in the room, where three, newly polished pokeballs, each holding a pokemon. Being the most detailed oriented of the three, Cheren quickly grabbed the note in the briefcase and turned to his two friends and began to read.

_Dear Touya, Cheren, and Bianca. _

_It has been many months since the three of you, along with so many other students had approached me in order to do intern work in my laboratory in order to further your knowledge of the world of pokemon. After a long period of deliberation, please allow me to congratulate the three of you as you three were the top interns of the year! Your intelligence, talent and above all determination has served as an inspiration to both myself and your fellow interns and as such you deserve to be reward for your efforts. _

_Along with this note are three special pokemon I have assigned to each of you to work with and care for. You each have already spent countless hours with your respective pokemon helping it grow and mature and I have no doubts that you will continue to do so. With that, please accept this token of your merit and have no doubts in your mind or your heart; you've earned this honor so do your best to make everyone here at Kanoko Town proud. _

_Sincerely_

_Professor Juniper. _

Touya, Cheren, and Bianca stood in stark silence for several minutes, allowing the message to sink in. It was a pretty surreal feeling for the three of them. With that note and those three pokeballs, they now had proof, undeniable proof that among all the aspiring trainers in Kanoko, they were the most promising, the most talented, the ones that would bring home glory!

"...wait a minute..." Touya said, finally breaking the silence. "Professor Juniper said that we knew the pokemon in these pokeballs fairly well...you don't think..."

And with that, the three of them grabbed their respective pokeball , each labeled with their names and held them up. Bianca was the first to act and with a gentle motion, she tossed her pokeball in the air. The red and white ball spun in the air a few time before promptly opening in a bright flash of light. As the light cleared, a tepig, appeared from the pokeball, the red and black piglet pokemon shook his head a few times to clear out his disorientation before happily rushing towards Bianca to greet her. The blond girl knelt down and picked up the tepig and began to hug it affectionately; the two obviously knew each other fairly well.

"Ah, Tepig!" Bianca cried in obvious delight. "We're going to be partners now!"

"Tepig!"

Tepig let out an affirmative and sighed contentedly as his old friend and now new trainer patted him on the head; she was always so nice!

Cheren smiled at the heartwarming exchange between Bianca and her Tepig and after briefly grasping his own pokeball, he threw it up in the air and like Bianca's had, the capsule opened with a flash. Unlike Bianca's pokeball however, Cheren's revealed a grass type, snivy instead. The green grass snake pokemon stood prim and proper, just like his new trainer, as the characteristic smirk of his species formed on his mouth. Cheren looked down at his new pokemon with a smirk of his own and their eyes met before the grass type jumped on the bespectacled boy's shoulder; there was definitely a sense of trust and understanding between the two.

"Snivy," Cheren said with a gentle smile. "It's good to see you again."

"Sni,"

Snivy nodded in agreement and crossed his small arms in a confident manner. Cheren was calm, collected, intellectual type who always had a good plan up his sleeves. He had known the bespectacled boy for ages and he knew if he stood by his trainer, he couldn't lose!

Touya saw his two friends and immediately saw the pattern and understood what Professor Juniper had done. A grin fully formed on his face, he brought up his own pokeball and threw it in the air. The brown haired boy however threw it too hard causing the pokeball to forcefully hit the wall, Cheren and Bianca stared at him incredulously as they saw the obvious dent their friend had created; the boy seriously needed a sense of restraint. Nonetheless, once the pokeball hit the floor, it too opened with a bright flash and with that, an oshawott appeared in the room as well. The small otter pokemon, while happy to see the boy, rubbed her head and sent him a somewhat annoyed glare; she obviously didn't appreciate being thrown at a wall.

"Ah, sorry about that," Touya said, laughing sheepishly, stroking the small bump on Oshawott's head. "Guess I don't know my own strength..." 

Among the three of them, Cheren was undoubtedly the smartest and most studious. As a result of that, he could list off the general facts of a pokemon from the top of his head and was a brilliant tactician in battle. Bianca, while not as intellectually strong as Cheren, definitely had a lot more charm, being able to form a close bond with any pokemon she had come across almost instantly. There really wasn't any tricks to it; she was just likable, with humans and pokemon alike. Now Touya, he didn't have Cheren's intellect as he was too impatient to really sit down and actually read a book, nor could he form instant bonds with pokemon like Bianca could as he sometimes came off as too hot blooded and hard headed. Despite this however, the blue clad boy wasn't without a niche of his own.

"Darn right you are!" Oshawott said, crossing her arms as she reprimanded her trainer. "You need to be more gentle with a lady like me!"

Touya gave another sheepish smile that came across more as nervous than anything else as he continued to pat the otter pokemon on the head.

"She's chewing you out again?" Cheren chuckled as he and Bianca watched the exchange between the two. "Makes me wish I could understand the pokemon language; it would probably be hilarious to hear what she's saying."

Unlike most trainers, or people for that matter, Touya had an unusual gift that allowed him to understand what a pokemon was saying. To most people, the pokemon language was an oddity since to them, all a pokemon was able to do was repeat their own name. For Touya on the other hand, he could understand them like they were talking in perfectly understandable english. From Bulbasaur to Meloetta, there probably wasn't a pokemon out there he couldn't understand.

"You're trainer's kind of a moron isn't he?" Snivy commented as he jumped off Cheren's shoulder and walked towards Oshawott, that smirk still on his face. "Though I guess it is kind of fitting for a pokemon like you..."

"Shut up Smugleaf," Oshawott snapped, crossing her arm. She always hated that smirk; it always made him look more arrogant that a normal snivy already looked; and they looked pretty arrogant to begin with! "And at least my trainer isn't some nerd who spends all day locked up in a room full of textbooks!"

"Quit calling me that!" Snivy yelled, glaring at the water pokemon; he always hated that name. "And my trainer is not a nerd!"

"And my trainer isn't a moron!"

The two of them glared at each other, faces inches apart, hands poised to tear the other to shreds. Cheren stared at the two with concern on his face but Touya just sighed; if only Cheren knew how petty his "mature" snivy could be sometimes. "Hey, knock it off guys!"

"You stay out of this!" Snivy and Oshawott snarled in unison, causing the brown haired boy to sweatdrop; basic form or not, those two were downright scary!

"Ooo is this a staring match?" Tepig asked excitedly, wriggling out of Bianca's hold and rushing over to join his fellow starter pokemon. "I wanna play too!"

Sweet, hopelessly oblivious Tepig...

"Well, it looks like Tepig wants to play too!" Bianca exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Equally as sweet and hopelessly oblivious Bianca...

"I got it," The blond hair girl then said. "How about we have a pokemon battle! It could be a three way free for all!"

Both boys stopped to stare at her, and then promptly turned to their pokemon who were obviously still at each other's throats and then at each other.

"Sure, why not." Cheren said, motioning towards Snivy who immediately jumped to his trainer's side. "It could prove to resolve whatever issues these two are dealing with."

At the prospect of a fight, Touya immediately leaped into action. "Yeah! Let's battle; Oshawatt, you game?"

The small water pokemon jumped to Touya's side and immediately grabbed the shell piece hanging on her torso, holding it in a defensive stand like a sword. "Let's rock." She replied, a battle crazy grin matching her trainer's forming on her face.

And so there they were, Touya and Oshawott, Cheren and Snivy, and Bianca and Tepig, all standing at separate ends of the room, ready for battle. All parties were silent and the tension between them was palpable; it was the first time they were fighting each other after all.

"Ready?" Bianca asked, an excited smile on her face.

"Would you expect anything less?" Cheren asked rhetorically, his glasses gleaming in the sunlight.

"Winner has to pay for lunch later." Touya replied cheekily, much to his friends' amusement.

The three new trainers eyed each other for a few moments before a grin form on each of their faces as they raised their hands in the air.

"Go!"

And the battle had begun!

And there you have it. Please read and review; I could really use the feedback! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hey all! So yea…sorry about the late update, (I was planning on posting this thing up last Sunday) I was facing a fair amount of annoyances from my laptop which resulted in losing any capabilities to connect to any internet service (I'm borrowing my friend's laptop to post this btw) XP. On the bright side, to make up for the delay, I present you all a nice long chapter! :D

Anyway though, I want to just thank you all for the support and advice given in your reviews. They really do serve as fuel for inspiration!

As for Namazaki Kishin…yeah I do agree with you; I hate the English names too but for some odd reason coughlazinesscough I'm not overly willing to go back and forth translating between the names, especially since so many English names are coming out. For now I'm just opting to use whatever names I can find on serebii or bulbapedia but I'll keep an open mind to switching to the Japanese names.

And Farla, thank you for the grammar advice, I've been writing my dialogue like that for ages so it's good to get some feedback so I can get that right. And as far as the overlying on dialogue, yeah after looking everything over I do agree with you in that sense. I'll try to put in more narratives as this story goes along.

And as for iLiKeThEmMaNgAs…lol I promised you the update, and here it is XD

Disclaimer: …nope, still don't own Pokemon or its copyright characters

Chapter 2:

"Go!"

With that command, the three pokemon jumped into action; each of them ready to do their best and make their trainers proud.

"Let's get this started shall we?" Cheren asked rhetorically, pushing his glasses up. "Snivy, use tackle on Oshawott!"

Snivy obliged with Cheren's command and charged towards Oshawott with impressive speed, ready to ram the water pokemon down with all his might. Touya and Oshawott had different plans though.

"Like we're just going to stand there and let you hit us!" Touya exclaimed, pointing up towards the ceiling. "Oshawott, dodge that tackle!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Oshawott replied as she jumped up in the air to avoid Snivy's charge, causing the grass pokemon to keep rushing until it would enviably ram his head against the wall.

Instead of ramming into the wall however, Snivy jumped up and set his small feet against the wall and promptly used his makeshift footing to propel himself towards Oshawott again; this time with more strength and power. Oshawott's eyes widened at the sudden tactic and she instinctively grabbed her shell and held it up like a shield to absorb the impact from the tackle. The shell shield did its job but the force of Snivy's tackle was too powerful and it still sent Oshawott flying...right into Touya's desk.

"Oshawott!" Touya yelled in concern as the water pokemon crashed into the piece of furniture, actually causing it to turn on its side creating a chaotic flurry of papers and other desk items.

"The haymaker tackle." Cheren explained, as his friend stood transfixed on the mess his pokemon was buried under. "He rushes into any kind of surface and uses his legs and a springboard to intensify the power of his tackle. A neat little tactic Snivy and I had been working on; rather effective if I do say so myself."

"That's selling that attack short." Snivy said, crossing his arms as he smiled smugly at Oshawott who had just broken out of a pile of papers much to Touya's relief. "And did you really think I would mindlessly crash into the wall? Who do you think I am? Tepig?"

"No..." Oshawott admitted; a tired grin on her face as she got a clearer look of the battleground. "But speaking of Tepig...you might want to watch yourself."

Before Snivy could even ask what the water pokemon was talking about, a powerful red and black juggernaut charged at his side and rammed into him, sending him really flying into the wall. As the grass pokemon slammed into the wall, knocking over several pictures, Tepig dug his foreleg into the ground like a tauros ready to charge, as a smile formed on his face; it was pretty obvious he was pleased with himself. Cheren's eyes widened as he turned to Bianca who had an impish smile on her face.

"This is a three way battle you know," she laughed before tapping her head. "Don't let your little rivalry with Touya let you forget about little ol' me."

Cheren didn't say anything to that, but did allow a smirk to form on his face that got both Bianca and Touya nervous; it was never good when Cheren got that smirk on his face, especially for people competing against him.

"Snivy, vine whip!"

Snivy heard his trainer's call and in a blast of stray picture frames, the grass snake shot out several green vines at blinding speeds. The vines shot out in all directions hitting not only Tepig who had decided to stand his ground but Oshawott who had attempted to sneak into the grass pokemon's blind spot to attack. The vines hit true and the otter and pig were blasted into different ends of the room. Allowing his opponent no time to breath, Snivy then jumped up onto the ceiling and used it again to create another haymaker tackle attack towards Oshawott.

"Don't give em the satisfaction of getting hit by the same attack!" Touya yelled, knocking Oshawott out of her dazed state. "Knock him away with a water gun!"

"You got it." Oshawott agreed, taking a deep breath before shooting a torrent of water from her mouth. The blast of water struck Snivy head on and caused him to fall onto the floor a soggy mess. "How do you like me know Smugleaf?" Oshawott asked cheekily.

"Alright Oshawott!" Touya cheered, jumping in the air. "Now mow him down with your fury cutter!"

"About time!" Oshawott yelled in approval as she grabbed her shell which began to glow in a yellow-green aura. "I thought I would never get a chance to use my sword!"

Energy blade of the fury cutter drawn, Oshawott charged at Snivy who was getting up rather slowly; had the water gun damaged it that much? The thought did pass Oshawott but she ignored it and continued to charge; she needed to take Smugleaf down and fast!

"Snivy, now while she's in range; use wrap!" Cheren then ordered causing Touya to whip his head towards his friend. How could Snivy use wrap in his condition?

Much to their shock and horror, Snivy was indeed able enough. His face turning into a nasty smirk, the grass pokemon suddenly extended his body and wrapped himself around Oshawott, completely imobilizing her.

"You...you were playing possum!" Oshawott accused through struggled breathing as the grip of the wrap attack grew stronger.

"And you were stupid enough to fall for it." Snivy replied simply as he crossed his arms; this battle was in the bag now!

"Battle is just as much deception as it is power." Cheren explained as he crossed his own arms. "Lure your enemy into a false sense of security and strike when he least expects it. Rather fitting fighting philosophy for a snake pokemon, don't you think?"

"Yeah..." Touya agreed, watching Oshawott, worry clearly evident on his face; she wouldn't last if this kept up. "A little too fitting…"

Cheren chuckled at the jab and turned to the struggling pokemon, ready to finish the water pokemon off before he considerably paled. A few feet away from the struggling pokemon, Tepig stood, his eyes narrowed in determination and his snout glowing in red hot light; that couldn't be good.

"I keep reminding you Cheren." Bianca said, her playful smile back on her face. "But you always keep forgetting about me. Tepig, ember now!"

"Bombs away!" Tepig cried as he set a barrage of fireballs, lightly burning the floor as they set off.

"Shoot," Cheren yelled, his eyes set in panic. "Snivy, undo the wrap; you need to get out of there!"

"Right," Snivy agreed as he uncoiled himself from Oshawott and was about to make his escape from the approaching fire barrage when a tired and annoyed Oshawott grabbed his tail, preventing him from escaping.

"Oh no you don't." Oshawott yelled as she held Snivy's tail firmly in her paw. "Now way I'm letting you escape after putting me in that annoying wrap attack!"

"Let me go, this won't do you any good!" Snivy yelled in panic. "You'll get burned too!"

A cruel smirk appeared on Oshawott's face as she drew Snivy closer. "Yeah, you're right...but who do you think is going to get more damaged from that fire?"

The ember attack reached the two pokemon causing a small explosion and a large amount of smoke. The three trainers coughed and waved their hands in an attempt to get the smoke as far away from them as possible. As the smoke finally cleared up, they saw Tepig standing triumphantly in the wreckage.

"That's right!" The pig pokemon cheered, jumping up and down in an odd victory dance. "You don't mess with the pig!"

"Where are the other two?" Touya asked as he and Cheren stared intently as the smoke further dissipated. "Did that attack do it?"

"Please Touya, you think a little ember attack could take me out?" a familiar sassy voice asked. "I can't believe such an idiot's my trainer!"

Touya's eyes widened in amazement as Oshawott charged out of the smoke in a veil of water. "I think you know what to do here; dontcha think?" She asked cheekily.

"You're right, I do," Touya grinned as he turned to Tepig who had stopped his victory dance to stare at the water covered Oshawott in shock. "Use aqua jet!"

Oshawott obliged and jumped into the air and charged at Tepig like a high speed torpedo made of water...because well...that's what she kind of was right now. The attack struck true and Tepig was rammed into the bookshelf. He didn't get up; the attack had taken a lot out of him. As Tepig fell, the smoke had finally cleared up and they could then see Snivy completely charred and passed out on the floor; he wasn't getting up anytime soon. Oshawott had won! Touya stared at the two downed pokemon and then at his own before the realization finally hit him. They had won!

"Nice Oshawott!" The cap clad trainer cheered as he ran towards Oshawott and picked her up. "You were awesome!"

"Of course I was." She replied, panting heavily; she was definitely tired. "Someone in this team has to be, right?"

Touya chuckled at Oshawott's words and set her down so she could rest properly; his partner was definitely a character. Meanwhile Cheren and Bianca were tending to their own pokemon.

"You fought well Snivy." Cheren said soothingly as the grass pokemon hung his head in shame. "There's absolutely no reason for you to be ashamed."

"Aw Tepig!" Bianca cried as she fussed over him. "You were really great you know that? We'll get em next time kay?"

The two pokemon stared at their trainers for a moment before nodding in determination; they wouldn't lose again! As Bianca and Cheren returned their respective pokemon into their pokeballs so they could better rest, Touya and Oshawott approached them, large grins on both their faces.

"So I guess this means you guys are treating me for lunch right?" Touya asked, both hands held behind his head. "I'm gonna eat soo much!"

"Yes we know; we'll cover your bill." Cheren sighed before finally noticing his surroundings. "Although before we go we might have to clean your room up a bit...or maybe a lot..."

Touya stared at Cheren in confusion for several moments before he finally noticed the state his room was in. Complexion rapidly paling, the brown haired boy dropped to his knees in horror; his room was a mess! "That..." he gasped out; he was feeling rather light headed. "That's not good..."

"No it's not," Cheren agreed with a guilty grimace; it was partially his fault after all.

"Wow..." Oshawott mused as she surveyed the damage the battle had caused. "Your mom is totally going to kill you."

"I don't get it." Bianca said suddenly, tilting her head in confusion. "What's wrong with Touya's room?"

Touya fell over and Cheren palmed his forehead. Bianca would always be Bianca they guessed.

"So on a scale of one to ten, just how upset was your mother when she got back?" Cheren asked, taking a swig of his can of soda as a cool breeze rushed by.

"About a million and three," Touya sighed, finishing his own can and unceremoniously chucking it in the nearby trash can.

Cheren gave the other boy an uncharacteristic sympathetic slap on the back; the bespectacled boy was still feeling guilty about his friend's predicament. Another cool breeze kicked up and the nearby children playing at the park the two were currently hanging out in shrieked in delight; nice cool breezes were always welcoming in this spring heat.

"I guess it wasn't that bad though." Touya said after a few moments as he fell back on the wooden picnic table they were sitting at. "Despite how messed up my room was, she was still pretty happy to find out that I was one Juniper's the top three interns. Guess it softened the blow you know. I think she was more concerned with me leaving and everything; you know?"

"Professor Juniper," Cheren corrected pointedly; he always did worry too much about proper titles. "And from that I can assume you'll be able to join in on our journey?"

At that Touya's gloomy demeanor vanished and was replaced by his usual cheerfulness; he was really excited about his upcoming journey. It was a little pact between Bianca, Cheren, and himself; when they would finally become eligible they would travel together and take the Unova region by storm!

"Heck yeah!" The brown eyed boy cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Like I would even let anything stand in the way between me and eternal glory! Sides, a shrimpy guy like you needs someone with serious power like me to back you up!"

"Oh really?" Cheren retorted, pushing his glasses up, causing them to shine in the sun. "I was about to say a Neanderthal like you would need my superior intellect to keep you from your constant display of tomfoolery."

An odd silence fell through the park as everyone there heard him. Then suddenly one of the little kids grabbed a small pebble and threw it at Cheren.

"You talk funny, freak!" the little boy yelled before rushing off with this friends to begin playing once more.

Cheren's eye twitched at the retreating children and Touya just laughed his ass off.

"That was hilarious!" The brown haired boy roared, knocking his cap off as he rocked back and forth in uncontrollable laughter.

Cheren shot a scalding glare at his friend before turning away to properly sulk into his soda. He did NOT talk funny, thank you very much; he spoke sophisticatedly, like a proper intellectual would.

"Anymatter," Touya said, picking himself up as his laughing fit left his system. "Where's Bianca? We're going to be late for our meeting with Professor Juniper."

"'Anymatter' is not a word, idiot." Cheren simply replied; he was still fairly ticked off about being called a freak.

This time it was Touya's turn to splutter angrily. The brown haired boy was about to make an angry retort of his own when a flash of blond caught his eye.

"Hey guys," Bianca panted. "Sorry I'm late."

Touya crossed his arms and eyed his blond hair friend warily and gave Cheren a subtle worried look. Despite the sheepish smile she had on, he could tell she was just as tired and ragged as she had been the day before. Bianca's father didn't really approve of her going out on a trainer's journey and in the recent days she had been later and later to their meetings, arriving more and more tired looking as the days went by. The brown haired boy was sure that the fights between her and her father were escalating. It was always a difficult thing to talk about among them. Of course they wanted her to come with them, but they also didn't want to be the cause of any further tension between the father and daughter. Bianca's father didn't like them already as they were "no-good punks" who were a bad influence on her precious daughter. Touya probably would've laughed at the memory of Cheren's horrified revelation that not all adult saw him as the perfect genius if the situation wouldn't have been so serious.

"Did everything end satisfactory?" Cheren asked, pushing his glasses up.

Bianca paused for a moment and Touya could tell she was conflicted about something. She quickly mastered her mood and gave the two of them a brilliant smile. "Yep!" She cheered. "I'm set to join you guys!"

Something felt incredibly off about her proclamation but both boys decided to ignore it. Maybe they were just too afraid to find out the real truth, maybe they were afraid to hear another indirect rebuke from Bianca's father, or maybe they just wanted her to come badly enough, but they decided to accept Bianca's words, pushing all sense of doubt to the back of their minds.

"Excellent!" Touya cheered, pumping his fist. "Now let's move out, we got a professor to see...and a journey to start!"

Among all the professors in the regions, Professor Juniper was known to have cleanest and most orderly laboratory. Countless research and thesis papers, heavy tombs and science journals fit into countless bookshelves in alphabetical order and color coordination and if one did care to look closely enough; the floors were recently waxed, probably for the fourth or fifth time today. Walking past the scrambling assistants with polite nods and hellos, the trio found the professor spraying her desk with some sort of brand name disinfectant and wiping the same spot over and over again.

In another place in a more informal situation, Touya probably would have joked that the woman had some sort of OCD when it came to cleanliness; she certainly didn't appreciate the times he and Oshawott caused their chaos in the lab, making a mess of everything.

"Ah, Touya, Cheren, Bianca," Professor Juniper said, setting down the cloth to greet the three new trainers. "So good of you to come."

"Glad to be here Professor." Touya said with a grin; her neat freak tendencies aside, she was a pretty cool person.

"Right," She nodded, turning towards a large work table holding three slim devices Touya couldn't clearly make out. "Now I'm sure the three of you are wondering why I have called you here."

The three of them didn't say anything but gave her a polite nod. Smiling at them, the professor turned to the work table behind her desk.

"Now I'm sure as the three of you know," She said, picking up the metal briefcase and moving it to her desk. "The International Pokemon League gives any person the right to own a pokemon and officially become a pokemon trainer once they reach ten years of age. The same rule holds true in the Unova region of course."

"With the exception of the higher age limit of course." Cheren supplied, crossing his arms. "Unova requires all citizens to be the minimum age of fourteen in order to officially become a pokemon trainer."

"Quite right, Cheren," Professor Juniper agreed, giving the bespectacled boy a proud smile. "And while you're at it, perhaps you can tell everyone the significance Kanoko town has to aspiring trainers in the Unova region?"

"Certainly," Cheren replied, a confident smile forming on his face. "Like the famous towns like Kanto's Pallet and Sinnoh's Sangem, Kanoko town has a pokemon lab and more importantly, a professor authorized to give out a pokedex."

"Correct," Professor Juniper laughed, entering the correct combination and opening the briefcase. "And as my top interns for this year, I am please to present the three of you with…your very own pokedex."

Touya, Cheren, and Bianca weren't all that surprised. They knew this was coming. Heck this was why they had worked so hard! But still, when the professor pulled out the red and black, hand held devices, they couldn't help but let out gasp of delight.

"These Pokedex serve shall serve as an information database that will undoubtedly aid you in your journey." Professor Juniper said, handing the devices down to each of them; her eye twitched as she saw Touya actually drool all over her floor over the device; she had just mopped there! "But along with that, possession of this device also shows my faith in your skills and talent. These devices are proof that you three are trainers of Unova's Kanoko town! With this, you have my blessing; go forth into the world on your adventure and make us all proud!"

"Heck yeah!" Touya cheered, jumping up in excitement before turning to Cheren. "Oi Cheren, let's have a battle!"

"We just had a battle," Cheren retorted, a bit taken aback from his friend's burst of energy.

"That was yesterday!" Touya exclaimed, unhooking Oshawott's pokeball from his belt. "And this is today!"

"Touya we are not fighting in the laboratory." Cheren deadpanned. "There are too many -"

But before the dark haired boy could finish his sentence, an unidentifiable gray bullet shot through an open window, the intruder charged at the group and managed to smack Touya in the face before it flew towards the bookshelf and grabbed a random magazine in its talons. The intruder flew up to the window and stopped to hover for a moment in order to properly look at the humans that were stupidly gawking at him.

"Pidove!" the baby pigeon pokemon cried before taking off through the window in a gust of wind that caused any nearby spare bit of paper to blast haphazardly in the lab, leaving a huge mess. The professor and three rookie trainers stared incredulously at the spectacle.

"What the heck just happened?" Touya yelled out in confusion as Oshawott climbed up on his head to catch a better view as to where the pidove was going.

"...my lab..." Professor Juniper whispered in angst as she saw the chaotic mess the bird pokemon had left behind.

"That was incredibly odd..." Cheren mused as he reassessed the event again in his mind. "Pidoves aren't known to attack people without cause, especially ones in the wild. Not to mention they generally aren't overly intelligent; why would they want a magazine?"

"...I had just spent all afternoon cleaning it..." the professor continued to whisper, dropping to her knees."...so many hours spent making sure everything was organized..."

"Probably to make a nest or something," Touya replied offhandedly as he cracked his knuckles, a determined smile forming on his face. "Doesn't really matter to me though; all I know is that I'm going to catch it!"

"You dolt," Cheren snapped. "That pidove must have a trainer already. It's the only logical way to explain its behavior!"

"Why would a trainer command his pokemon to steal a random magazine?" Touya retorted. "It's gotta be a free bird, because then I can catch it!"

"Do you ever tire of relying on such backward, circular logic?" Cheren asked, crossing his arms, shooting a glare at the brown haired boy who gladly returned the favor.

"Um...guys?" Bianca mumbled, interrupting their glare off. "I think Professor Juniper's upset about something..."

Both boys stopped their argument and turned to see what was going on, only to freeze in abject horror. Professor Juniper was now on her feet, arms shaking and face contorted in what could only be described as hate incarnate. The two of them let out a pathetic squeak before jumping behind Bianca for protection. Seeing the usually calm professor become so angry was definitely a frightening sight to see.

"...so many hours spent cleaning...wasted..." Professor Juniper snarled with such ferocity they could have sworn she was breathing fire. She then snapped her gaze towards the three trainers causing each of them to flinch. "You three," She boomed. "Get. That. Pidove."

It didn't take very long for them to scramble out the door.

"So where do you think we'll find that specific pidove anyway?" Touya asked; his hands clasped behind his head as they walked down Route One, a fairly calm path just south of Kanoko town limits. "Aren't they like fairly common pokemon?"

"They would be except for the fact that pidove aren't native to these areas; normally you would have to search for them in Route Three to find one." Cheren replied, surveying the area with the help of his trusty binoculars. "And as extraordinary as it is, that pidove could not have gotten very far. We should be able to find it around here."

"Uh dude?" Touya deadpanned. "It's still a bird and it's faster than we are, not to mention it can fly. And anymatter where would we even think to look for it? We've been circling this stupid place four times already!"

"How about up a tree?" Bianca suggested, as she pointed towards a random one. "Like that tree over there with a pidove sitting on one of its branches!"

Touya and Cheren's heads turned towards said tree and to their shock, there was the pidove sitting innocuously on a branch, the stolen magazine was loosely hanging next to it. The two stared at the pidove, then at each other, and then at Bianca who was smiling her usual happy go lucky smile.

"...Bianca..." Touya began, rubbing his temples.

"...just how many times did you see that pidove?" Cheren finished; the bespectacled boy was also rubbing his temples.

"I dunno," Bianca admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "Probably like four times? Didn't you see me wave at it?"

Both boys face faulted at that but quickly recovered and ran towards the pidove, pokeballs drawn. It was time they completed Professor Juniper's petty revenge...er...important mission!

"Oshawott!"

"Snivy!"

And with a furious throw, the otter and the grass snake blasted out of their respective pokeballs; each of them ready to fight.

"You ready for this Smugleaf?" Oshawott asked sweetly, much to the grass pokemon's ire.

"Quit calling me that." Snivy snapped before turning to Cheren. "Your orders?"

"He's asking for a command." Touya supplied to Cheren.

"I think I could've guessed that." The dark haired boy replied as he pushed up his glasses, causing them to glow ominously in the sun. "Snivy, use grass mixer!"

"Understood," Snivy replied as he began to twirl around and around, kicking up a whirlwind of materialized leaves, ready to strike. After a few more seconds of charging, the grass snake pokemon launched the grass mixer attack at the pidove who jumped off its branch and flew upward into the sky.

"Oshawott!" Touya yelled. "Find the highest platform you can climb and start climbing it! When you finished that, start shooting water gun; if we can hit it maybe we can weigh it down a little!"

"You're the human." Oshawott replied as she jumped onto a large boulder sitting near the clearing. Once she steadied her footing, the water pokemon then began to fire several steady blasts of water at the pidove, successfully hitting the pigeon pokemon after the fifth shot. Like Touya had predicted, the water had managed to weigh down the bird pokemon, effectively cutting down its speed.

"I'm impressed." Cheren said, giving the brown haired boy a smirk. "Who would expect you of all people to create such an effective strategy?"

Touya didn't reply to Cheren, opting to give out another smirk before turning his attention back to the battle. "Okay, pidove's descended a little so now's your chance to use aqua jet!"

Oshawott grunted in agreement before summoning an armor of water around her. Tucking her arms in, she kicked off the boulder and launched herself at high speed, ramming into the pidove. The pidove cried out in pain as the attack connected, causing it to lose focus on its flying and plummet into the ground. Oshawott gave an evil little smirk, obviously pleased with herself as she spun around to dissipate the water armor and she descended rapidly to the ground.

"Alright Oshawott!" Touya cheered, as he ran to catch his pokemon from crash landing into the dirt before turning to Bianca. "Hey we could use a little back up here, Bianca!"

Bianca smiled and grabbed a pokeball from her back and readied her arm to throw it. "Right, go Lillipup!"

Touya and Cheren both paused in shock for a moment as they saw the little puppy pokemon burst out of her pokeball in a flash of light. The lillipup was small and very excitable from the looks of it.

"Lillipup, use tackle!" Bianca cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

"Lilli!" The puppy pokemon barked as she obliged to her trainer's orders and charged towards pidove's rapidly falling form. Jumping up in the air, she rammed into pidove's limp form, causing it to crash into a tree.

"Nice job Lillipup!" Bianca cheered, running towards her pokemon to give it a hug.

"Bianca, what the heck!" Touya yelled in astonishment as he and Cheren raced towards her. "When'd you get that lillipup?"

Bianca eased the grip of her hug as a cute frown of concentration formed on her face. Touya and Cheren stared at her intently, waiting for her explanation with bated breath. After several moments Bianca looked up to the two of them and...

"I don't remember." The blond girl laughed, causing her two friends to fall over once more; that was fairly anti-climatic.

"How can you not remember?" Cheren asked, obviously freaking out a bit. "How do you not remember how you caught your first pokemon?"

"I don't know..." Bianca cried out, pouting cutely. "Does it matter though? She's mine and I'm going to take good care of her!"

Touya laughed as he watched the two of them argue. Unlike his own arguments with Cheren, the spats between his two friends always had an endearing quality to them.

"...damn..."

Touya's blood ran cold and he whipped around to see the pidove shakily stand up on its feet; its eyes showing a kind of ferocity not normally seen in pidoves.

"...damn humans..." the pidove spat out, finally securing its footing and sending a venomous glare towards the trainers.

"...uh...guys…?" Touya called out, interrupting Cheren and Bianca's argument as the two of them turned towards him. "You might want to get your game faces back on. That pidove's still got some fight in it."

"So he wants more huh?" Oshawott asked, readying herself, ready for another round in the fray. "That's fine; we'll just keep beating him down till he stops getting up."

"Persistent fool," Snivy sighed, crossing his little arms. "You should've just stayed down; would've saved you a lot of trouble."

"Yeah!" Lillipup piped in, hoping on her four legs; she was eager for more action.

"It seems like this pidove has a few more winds in him." Cheren said, crossing his arms, head twitching as he noticed Bianca beginning to laugh uncontrollably and Touya's eyes grew wide.

"A few more winds to it!" She laughed. "That's a good one Cheren!"

"...holy crap did Cheren just make a joke?" Touya asked. "Something bad has to happen now..."

"...damn humans..." Pidove snarled, flapping its wings to take up flight once more. "...nevermore...never shall I allow you to make a fool out of me!"

And with those bold words, the baby pigeon was engulfed in a bright white light. The pidove's cries soon grew stronger and deeper and a powerful force pulsed from its glowing form and throughout the area.

"It's..." Bianca gasped.

"...evolving!" Cheren yelled.

"...yea...something bad was going to happen..." Touya deadpanned.

The bright light suddenly died down and the three trainers saw that the pidove was no more. It was gone and in its place was a much larger, fiercer looking bird pokemon. Like the pidove, this new bird was predominantly gray. The pokemon's yellow eyes were meaner, angrier, bordered with crimson red and its beak was long and sharp. The bird pokemon flicked its head, allowing its black, mullet like feathers to flow in the wind as it let out a proud trill.

"Hatooboo!"

And with that, the newly evolved pigeon pokemon ascended into the air once more, flapping its wings furiously while doing so, kicking up a fierce amount of wind as a result. Oshawott stared for a moment to further evaluate the situation and to her horror saw that the wind was forming into several deadly vacuum blades tinted with a light blue aura. Acting on instinct, the otter pokemon grabbed her shell and held it in a defensive position but it did no good. The wind blades shot forward through the air and tore through Oshawott's defenses, sending the water pokemon flying into a tree.

"Let's see how you like being sent into trees." the hatooboo sneered as the otter pokemon hit several branches before falling to the ground.

"No!" Touya yelled out.

"Ow..." Oshawott groaned, rubbing the back of her head as Touya rushed to tend to her. "...stupid jerk..."

The Hatooboo gave out a nasty sneer and charged at both trainer and pokemon once more. Touya's eyes widened and turned to cover the water pokemon. The pigeon pokemon slammed its wings onto Touya back, causing the brown haired trainer to yell out in pain. Oshawott gasped in terror as her trainer continued to shield her against the bird pokemon's relentless attacks.

"...you bastard..." Oshawott snarled, grabbing her shell, gripping it tight. "...no one hurts him..."

And with those words, Oshawott rocketed out of her trainers arms, shell drawn and glowing in powerful blue aura that reminded everyone who saw it of the clear ocean.

"Eat this..." Oshawott growled, swinging the new energy blade down. "Shell Blade!"

The attack struck true and the hatooboo was once again sent flying into the ground. Oshawott did a back flip in the air and landed back on the ground. She casually flicked her shell to dissipate what was left of the energy and attached the accessory to her stomach once more.

"Oshawott..." Touya gasped out in shock. "Since when could you use shell blade?"

"Since now," Oshawott replied pointedly, crossing her arms as a cocky smile formed on her face. "Impressive isn't it?"

"Very," Touya agreed, patting his pokemon on the head.

The moment however was interrupted as Cheren jumped up in the air, his eyes burning with determination. "Snivy, now!" He roared, pointing to one of the trees. "Slingshot!"

Touya looked up to the tree Cheren was pointing at and to his shock saw Snivy positioned on a bent branch held together by his vine whip. The branch was creaking under the strain and was eager to spring back to its original position. Snivy shot everyone an arrogant smirk and let go of the his vine whip and the branch swung back to its original position, launching the grass pokemon at incredible speeds. Snivy mercilessly rammed into the weakened hatooboo. The attack knocked the wind out of the flying pokemon and with a few pained, tentative breaths, the pigeon pokemon blacked out, the last thing it saw was a red and white ball speeding towards its weakened form.

"Pokeball," Cheren said in a calm voice as the capsule struck. "Go."

The pokeball hit the hatooboo's still form and in a bright flash of light, the capsule took in the flying pokemon. The ball hit the ground and soon enough began to shake violently.

One shake; bated breath.

Two shakes; shaking fists and cold sweat.

Three shakes; would it finally be over?

And then...the ball fell still. The spasms stopped and the glowing red center reverted to its normal calm white. It was over; the hatooboo was captured. The three trainers stared incredulously at the now calm pokeball before letting out a tired sigh as they unceremoniously dropped to the ground.

"Well..." Touya panted, returning Oshawott to her pokeball so she could get some peace and quiet. "That was definitely one hell of a first day..."

His companions couldn't help but agree with him.

And now our heroes have gotten their pokedex, gained the professor's blessing for their journey and endured a chapter packed with battles! And yes, the first capture already!

I also have no idea how Professor Juniper's character is and I made up that neat freak, cleaning OCD on a whim in light of the minccino she has, which are known to habitually clean everything it sees. Is it cannon? Probably not but I think I'm going to roll with it. XD

But yeah, please read and review; feedback is always welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

I LIVEEEEE...but seriously yeah; I know I've been MIA for a few months...the mixture of school and family have been seriously taking a lot of my time...im really sorry..

But yeah, here's the long overdue chapter three, so please enjoy.

* * *

Tales of Unova: Chapter 3

* * *

"Uh Cheren?" Touya asked, biting into a burger. "What are you doing?"

It was already in the late afternoon and the group was fairly exhausted from their encounter with Cheren's new tranquil. Finding themselves already near Accumula town, they decided to call it a day and take refuge at the local pokemon center. The center was a god-send to any trainer, offering food, shelter and most importantly healing for injured or tired pokemon. More than sufficiently funded by the league, Pokemon centers offered most of their services for free with the exception of the food and lodgings, which were incidentally dirt cheap. Ordering heaps of food, the three trainers had decided to sit down for a meal.

"I'm just doing some research on the tranquill," Cheren replied, pulling a notebook out of his bag and promptly began to write. "Something's still bothering me about it."

"What could you possibly be bothered about?" Touya asked, crossing his arms. "You got an awesome pokemon; you should be happy!"

"Touya you heard it from Tranquill yourself." Cheren snapped. "It obviously has serious issues with human beings to hold so much anger and has any of us ever seen a 'wild' pokemon willingly enter a residential area let alone attack people? It just doesn't add up."

"We have been attacked by wild pokemon before though." Bianca pointed out.

"That is true," Cheren admitted, "but those times we were only attacked when we approached into their territory. Wild pokemon rarely leave their territories to cause trouble."

"You have a point," Bianca admitted, looking a bit downcast as she rubbed Tepig and Lillipup's ears.

"Oh come on Cheren!" Touya yelled, standing up from his seat, a tinge of bitterness in his voice that didn't go unnoticed by either of his friends. "You got yourself an awesome pokemon; you should be happy!"

Cheren gave the blue clad boy a blank stare.

"Please don't tell me you're allowing your jealousy to interfere with your thought process." The bespectacled boy replied blandly. "Because that's just stupid, even for you."

Touya shot a glare at the other boy before letting out an angry huff and promptly stormed away.

"Ahh, Touya!" Bianca cried, "where are you going?"

"Getting some air," Touya barked exiting the center leaving an annoyed Cheren and a clearly distraught Bianca.

"Let him be, Bianca."'Cheren sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "He just needs to blow off some steam...the stupid idiot..."

Bianca looked at Cheren who had buried himself in his research then at Touya who had just left the center and sighed. She really hated it when they fought.

* * *

Touya stormed into Route 3, fists clenched and shaking. How dare Cheren imply he was jealous? He wasn't jealous. And what was Cheren's problem anyway? He caught his first pokemon, a powerful one at that, and he was obsessing with what was wrong with it?

"Stupid Cheren with his stupid research and his stupid salads..." Touya grumbled leaning against one of the stone ledges scattered along the route.

"What's wrong with salads?" A familiar sassy voice asked from out of nowhere. "They're quite good for you, you know."

"Oshawott, not now," Touya groaned as the otter pokemon broke out of her pokeball.

"That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about." The water type continued, paying absolutely no attention to her trainer's growing ire. "I've been thinking for a bit, and I realize, I should have a nickname."

"...you want a nickname." Touya replied flatly.

"Yep," Oshawott confirmed. "I mean we've known each other for a while and you're still calling me Oshawott; like I'm some generic random pokemon you just met! It's not right. I mean, Cheren's Smugleaf has a nickname; why don't I have one?"

The mention of Cheren's name caused Touya's anger to rise up again but he managed to keep his temper under wraps.

"You're the one who gave him that name," Touya retorted dryly.

"Which is why Smugleaf should be worshipping the ground I walk on!" Oshawott declared. "Now chop, chop; I want a nickname!"

"Fine," Touya laughed, his mood somewhat lifted by her antics. "Now what should I name you...?"

"Something epic; a name fitting for me." Oshawott said, crossing her arms.

"Hmm, how about...Oz?" Touya asked, snapping his fingers in a spark of inspiration.

"Oz?" The water pokemon mused, tapping her chin. "Hmm...I guess it'll do..."

"Awesome," Touya laughed, crossing his arms. "So Oz it is!"

"Awesome indeed!" The newly named Oz exclaimed before turning to her trainer. "So you want to explain why you were being such a jerk ealrlier?"

"Me?" Touya asked, his ire growing again. "Cheren was being the jerk! You know how strong his new tranquil is, we're the ones who did most of the fighting, why can't he just enjoy his capture?"

Oz stared at her trainer before letting out an exasperated sigh.

"You know you say these things, but to me, you just sound jealous that Cheren caught a pokemon before you." She pointed out. "You're being stupid and you oughta man up and just apologize."

"Not you too," Touya sighed. "For the last time, I'm not jealous of Cheren."

"Oh don't give me that," Oshawott sighed, slapping her forehead. "I've known you for a while and believe me when I say: you've always been jealous of him."

Touya glared at Oz who defiantly glared right back before letting out a sigh.

"It's just...with Bianca catching her lillipup and Cheren and his new tranquill, I kind of feel like I'm falling behind." Touya admitted, leaning back on the stone ledge.

"Um hello?" Oz said, waving her shell at his face. "This isn't a race you know. Your job is to take care and raise pokemon; not compete with your peers over how many you can catch."

Touya stared at Oz for a moment before giving himself a small slap on the forehead. Oz was right and how could he have forgotten such an important principle?

"Seeing things a little more clearly?" Oz asked in a cheeky voice.

"Yeah, I am." the blue clad trainer admitted. "Thanks for clearing my head up."

"Well one of us has to be the rational one." Oz replied, sounding positively cocky before a pensive look settled across her face. "Still, you are quite a handful...and I can't be the ONLY one carrying this team..."

Touya turned to his pokemon, a grin forming on his face. "You don't mean..."

"You said you were jealous of Cheren and Bianca for already catching their pokemon." Oz replied, shrugging a bit before heading off into the tall grass. "I figure the best way to stop your moaning is to get off our butts and start looking for a pokemon to catch! Sides, I need some practice; I haven't used my scalchops all day."

Touya stared at Oz's retreating form before giving out a wry smile. She really was a marvel sometimes. Clearing any residual cobwebs from his head, the young trainer pumped his fist and charged after his partner into the tall grass. There was no time to waste; there were pokemon to be caught!

* * *

"Ganny."'

Cheren looked up from his research notes; a quizzical expression on his face. "I beg your pardon?"

Bianca turned her gaze away from her tepig to face Cheren with a happy smile. "I decided on nicknames for my pokemon!" The girl exclaimed. "Tepig will now be known as Ganny and Lillipup will be Terry!"

"...fascinating." Cheren deadpanned before turn back to his notes.

"Why don't you give your pokemon a nickname too?" Bianca suggested, allowing Cheren's snarky remark to roll off her back. "I'm sure they'll appreciate it! Then again, your snivy already has a nickname."

"I'm not calling him Smugleaf." Cheren snapped.

"So why not give him a proper name then?"

Cheren stared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out another pokeball and deftly tossed it in the air. A bright flash accompanied by a loud bang filled their isolated corner of the center and Snivy appeared, standing on the table, looking up expectantly at his trainer; he had obviously overheard their conversation.

"You want a name don't you?" Cheren sighed, letting out a small chuckle as the grass pokemon. "Fair enough...how about...Sev; how does that sound?"

"Snivy!" The grass snake pokemon exclaimed in affirmation.

"Alright," Cheren smiled. "Then from now on, I'll call you Sev."

"What about Tranquill?" Bianca asked.

"I...I don't know," Cheren admitted, adjusting his glasses. "Honestly I was contemplating sending it to Professor Juniper after I finish this report."

"Cheren..." Bianca sighed, a disapproving look on her face. "You know I don't condone how Touya was acting earlier but he did have a point. Why don't you spend some time bonding with him rather than trying to analyze him? This is the first pokemon you ever caught; maybe you could be a little more cheerful about it?"

"Bianca what on earth are you talking about?" Cheren snapped. "You and I both know something is wrong with that pokemon; the sooner we understand what is wrong with it the sooner we can help it."

"I'll admit...that Tranquill has some...issues..." Bianca agreed tentatively. "And yeah I think you're right that we need to find out why he's so angry. But if you're going to just keep treating him like a test subject I doubt you'll do much help; you'll probably end up making things worse. I say keep Tranquill with you, whatever damage he's suffered, I'm sure that if show him enough love he'll be ok in the end!"

Cheren didn't respond; he didn't know how to react to that. Was what he was doing really causing more damages? The bespectacled boy frozen at the thought but was knocked out of his musings as a large crowd outside the pokemon center had gathered and was loudly conversing.

"What the heck is going on?"

"Who are these guys?"

Tranquill pokeball began to shake violently and a sense of confusion and urgency washed over him. Cheren unceremoniously shoved his research back into his bag and rushed out the door.

"I'm going to check out what's going on!" He called out, Sev closely following.

XxxxxX

Touya was tired; really tired. Then again that was probably expected after chasing wild pokemon for the better half of the hour.

"Okay..." The blue clad trainer panted. "I'm out of shape...and I think those burgers are coming back up..."

"An hour of running and you're already a wreck," Oz said, shaking her head sadly. "You're pathetic. But on the bright side at least our efforts weren't for nothing."

Touya grinned and held up a pokeball in the air, allowing to afternoon sun to shine against the polished metal creating an epic gleam.

"Yep," Touya chirped, shrinking the ball and putting it in his pocket. "She wasn't an easy pokemon to catch though."

"Tell me about it." Oz groaned, rubbing a sore spot on her head. "I've never fought anyone that fast. She's a little...odd though isn't she?"

"She is pretty interesting." Touya agreed. "But she's a tough fighter and I'm pretty sure once she gets trained up a bit she'll be an awesome asset to the team!"

"Awesome!" Oz cheered. "Now...are you ready to apologize to Cheren for being such a jerk?"

"You're not going to let me forget about that are you?" Touya asked, his mood slightly dampened as the otter pokemon shot him an amused look. "But you're right, I'll face up to my screw ups like a man."

"See that you do." Oz laughed before her sharp eyes caught onto a dispersing crowd. "Hey what's going on there?"

Touya strained his eyes ahead a few yards to see a man wearing large cloak standing on a large platform the blue clad trainer was sure wasn't there earlier. The man was...odd to say the least, with his odd robes long hair, and monocle like attachment over his eye. Actually he looked completely ridiculous and the guys clad in what looked like medieval chain mail flanking him from left to right didn't look a whole lot better. Still, despite the oddities in appearance, the man had a look of upmost dignity in his face and posture, almost giving off a sense that he was of a higher place of being. At the foot of the platform, Touya could also see a mass of people looking generally confused, no doubt wondering what the hell was going on.

"Good afternoon people of Accumula Town!" The man in the robes announced, waving his arms in a theatrical fashion. "I am Ghetsis of Team Plasma and I come bearing an important announcement for you all about Pokemon liberation."

The people were confused, ready to dismiss this guy as a hack, but for some reason, decided to stick around and listen anyway.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other." Ghetsis continued. "However...is that really the truth? Have you considered that perhapts we humans...only assume that this is the truth? Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers...they get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work...can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?"

The crowd was becoming restless and Touya himself had froze in his tracks. His argument and jealously towards Cheren and Bianca for catching a pokemon before he had. His quickness to see the entire journey as some sort of competition between his friends. There was a large knot of steel forming in the pit of his stomach.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, Pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility towards these wonderful beings called pokemon?"

He was met with silence but it didn't matter. Ghetsis seemed to already have his answer.

"That is right! We must liberate the pokemon! Then, and only then, will humans and pokemon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and pokemon...and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention."

As the man known as Ghetsis and his escorts left the area, Touya crossed his arms as his brow crinkled in deep thought. Pokemon and people had coexisted and worked together for ages. It was just how things were. Would breaking the relationship between humans and pokemon really be for the best? Was he what was best for his pokemon?

"Don't you dare waver." Oz said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Touya stared in confusion at the oshawott who only glared at him.

"No more wishy-washy attitudes." Oz said. "I've had enough of those from you for one day. I get it, you feel bad about what happened earlier but you're my trainer Touya. I'll fight for you and you alone so don't you dare waver in your determination, got it."

She further made her point by blasting him in the face with a low powered water gun and Touya the doubts in his mind seemed to go away. Shaking any further doubts aside, Touya turned his attention toward the dispersing crowd and saw Cheren talking to a man with long green hair and khaki clothes; the conversation did not look very friendly. A feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach, Touya beckoned to Oz and the two of them rushed over to see what was going on.

* * *

"I'll say it again. Your pokemon," the green haired man said, adjusting his cap. "It speaks to you."

"And I'll say it again as well," Cheren snapped, hand clutching on Tranquill pokeball which had been shaking violently since that Ghetsis fellow's speech. "What on earth are you talking about?"

The green haired man did not reply, instead looking away from the bespectacled trainer with a heavy sigh.

"You do not hear its voice." He said, turning back to Cheren. "It's such a pity. That Tranquill suffers in its pokemon, screaming for freedom and yet you refuse to release it from its bindings. I see that even here people are abusing pokemon."

Tears began to flow from the man's eyes but honestly Cheren couldn't bring himself to care. He was in a downright foul mood and he didn't need some green haired odd ball randomly come up to him and start calling him abusive. Severus was one step further and was already charging towards the green haired man; no one insulted Cheren if he had anything to say about it!

The green haired man watched as the little snivy charged towards him and his heart grew heavier. It seemed that he would have to resort to violence. Producing a pokeball from his pocket, the green haired man opened the capsule item and before anyone could even blink, Severus was already knocked back several feet by some unseen force.

"What the...?" Cheren gasped as Severus was suddenly knocked down as a purple blur slammed into it. "What is going on?"

"I can hear your snivy's voice." the green haired man said ominously. "There is no chance you can win."

The blur slammed into Sev and Cheren let out a swear. What the hell was going on here?

"Sev," Cheren ordered. "The opponent's a fast one; try creating a web of vines to try and trip it up!"

Snivy nodded and the grass snake pokemon let out a cry as he shot several vines in all directions. The vines kept low to the ground and wrapped themselves around lamp posts, signs and any other nearby thing that was anchored to the ground. As his pokemon set up the vines, Cheren watched with bated breath; would the plan work? The purple blur was still rushing around, taking care not to get caught in those vines but out of a sudden Sev shot out another vine that snagged onto what he hoped was his opponent's foot. The surprise attack worked and the blur stumbled and crashed into the ground.

"Nice job Sev!" Cheren yelled as took an overdue look at his opponent.

It was a small cat pokemon with a snarky look on its face. Its fur was purple and its ears were pink and while Cheren knew that scythe like protrusion at the tip of its tail was just fur, he couldn't help but let out a thick swallow as the image of a real sickle blade flashed through his mind.

"Purrloin," the dark cat pokemon meowed before turning to the green haired man for further instruction.

"Impressive," The man commented, still looking distressed. "You've managed to stop its assault."

"Don't give me that!" Cheren snarled, his temper was quickly reaching its breaking point. "Now who the hell are you?"

"Do not worry little snivy," The man said to Sev, ignoring Cheren. "Soon I shall free you from your prison. Purrloin, use pursuit!"

The purrloin obliged and charged towards Sev who was looking positively exhausted from unleashing so many vines and Cheren could only watch helplessly as the dark cat pokemon charged for the kill.

"Water gun!"

And then like a clap breaking the silence of a tense audience, a jet of blue water rushed through the air towards the purrloin. The cat pokemon noticed the attack and jumped back to the man, hissing all the way. Cats did hate water after all. Cheren stared in shock at the sudden attack before rushing towards Sev to make sure the snivy was alright.

"Sev are you alright?" Cheren asked, kneeling towards his pokemon who promptly collapsed in his arms.

Sev gave a small smile as he passed out and Cheren nodded towards the little grass snake before returning the pokemon to his pokeball.

"You did a wonderful job Sev; go rest for a bit." Cheren said tenderly before turning his attention back to the mysterious man who was looking towards the origin of that water gun with a shocked look on his face.

"I can't believe you missed!"

"It's not my fault, you just haven't trained me enough."

"Don't you give me that tone Oz; it's not my fault you have crappy aim!"

"Uh, yeah it is; you're supposed to get me stronger!"

"Oh yeah, well you're stupid!"

"You're stupid!"

Honestly, Cheren couldn't understand what one of them was saying, but he could he recognize the heated voice of the other person from anywhere.

"Touya!" The bespectacled boy yelled, turning to his friend who was, of course, arguing with his oshawott. "Get out of here, this man is too powerful! You're no match for him!"

Touya stared at his friend for a moment before letting out a scoff.

"Ah come on Cheren," he replied. "Just because he beat you around like a rag doll doesn't mean he's unbeatable."

"Now's not the time to act arrogant you moron!" Cheren snarled.

"What did you call me?" Touya yelled, a vein appearing on his head.

"Enough," The man cut in; his voice was still soft, but there was a hint of authority in it that just compelled the two boys to stop.

"Thank you," The man said pleasantly before turning to Touya. "Your pokemon; you are able to converse freely with them. Can you understand them?"

"Understand them?" Touya asked, putting on a bland face as he turned to look to Oz. "Nope not a clue; this bleeding otter keeps telling me such weird and annoying things. I'll never understand her."

"But they can speak to you." The man pointed out.

"Oh yeah, they can do that." Touya admitted, crossing his arms at Oz who was mirroring her trainer's actions. "Kind of wish they didn't sometimes; saves a bunch of headaches. Why do you ask? Do you know something about this?"

The green haired man stared at Touya before straightening out his clothes. Despite the cap partially obscuring his eyes, Touya and Cheren could see a spark of determination in them.

"Very well...my name is N" The man replied, motioning to his purrloin. "And let me hear the voice of your pokemon."

The purrloin charged and Oz laughed.

"He just wanted a battle?" Oz pointed out. "Fine, come on Touya; let's beat em to a bloody pulp!"

"Actually I think I'm going to have you sit this out." Touya replied as he brought out another pokeball from his pocket. "Let's have the new girl take a shot."

Oz looked annoyed but stepped aside. "Fine, fine, do what you want." She said offhandedly. "Don't come crying to me when you lose without my help."

Touya snorted at the remark and tossed the pokeball in his hand into the air. "Chesire, let's fight!"

The pokeball burst open and a purrloin burst out. She looked the same as N's purrloin but had deeper green eyes and much more lazier demeanor. She took in her surroundings, particularly her opponent standing before her and let out a wide grin.

"My, my," Touya's purrloin, known as Chesire, remarked towards the other purrloin. "Aren't we eager to fight? But such a brutal fighting style; that's a no-no in our species. Maybe I should go educate you on a proper Purloin fight."

"Oi, new girl!" Oz shouted. "Stop talking so much and just bash the guy's face in!"

"Ah of course," Chesire remarked rather smoothly. "The brute that managed to beat me. You know sweetie you really ought to focus a little more on your subtlety."

"Chesire," Touya cut in to prevent an argument between the two. "His pokemon's pretty fast; do you think you can take him?"

"Of course hun." Chesire replied casually. "And I can't let down my very handsome trainer in my first battle after all."

"Awesome," Touya laughed before suddenly turning seriously. "Then let's go and use scratch attack!"

"With pleasure." Chesire replied before launching herself towards the other purrloin.

N's purrloin hissed at Chesire and charged at her, a scratch of his own ready to strike. He reached her first and threw out his claws but Chesire suddenly stopped in her tracks and ducked the attack before rushing behind her opponent and delivering her own scratch attack, leaving three neat scars on his back. N's purrloin yowled in pain and jumped away from Chesire who gave him flirty wink. Touya cheered while N stayed silent.

"Why..." N mumbled. "Why do you continue to fight?"

Touya opened his mouth to reply before quickly shutting it. It didn't feel like N was talking to him.

"Oh were you talking to me?" Chesire asked as she dodged a flurry of swipes from her opponent who had just rushed her, ready for round two. "Well, I've only been with him for about an hour, but I like him. He's very fun and hey; he makes a girl feel really wanted."

N didn't respond, opting to stare out into space; it seemed like what Chesire had said had completely shocked him. Touya stared at the green haired man for a moment before deciding it was time to finish the battle.

"Chesire!" Touya yelled. "It's time to finish this with our secret weapon; use faint attack!"

Cheren stared out in shock at that command. The purrloin species, while of the dark type variety, were incapable of learning faint attack. It just wasn't possible.

"Of course boss," Chesire replied, flashing a huge grin before completely disappearing from sight.

Cheren the breach in logic completely shocked him, but that was nothing compared to sudden onslaught of vicious strikes that rained upon N's purrloin that seemed to come out of nowhere. The blows kept going on for a few moments and then suddenly stopped. N's purrloin, completely battered and exhausted, then collapsed on the ground. It was over, Touya had won. The blue can trainer jumped for joy and rushed towards his pokemon and hugged it in congratulations. N walked over to his own beaten down purrloin and whispered some words of encouragement before scooping it up in his lanky arms.

"...I've never expected to hear a pokemon say such things." He said, walking up to Touya. "As long as pokemon are confined in pokeballs, they will never become perfect beings. I have to change the world for pokemon...because they are my friends."

"Pokemon are my friends too you know," Touya replied, staring N in the eyes. "And I'll do my best to work towards their best interest too...I'll never see them as anything less than allies and friends ever again..."

N stared at the boy for a moment before letting out a smile.

"I see you have learned something important today." N replied, patting the boy on the shoulder as he walked away. "Hang onto that lesson and I hope we will meet again."

"Yeah," Touya agreed, giving a smile of his own. "Let's battle again sometimes."

N only smiled and walked away. Touya stared at the odd man's retreating form before rushing towards Cheren.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cheren replied, dusting his clothes off.

"Hey...about earlier...I'm really sorry about that..."

"No it's fine. I was partially in fault as well."

"Still, I feel really bad about it. Just do something so we're even or something."

Cheren stared at Touya for a moment before letting out a chuckle. The bespectacled boy winded up his arm and in a flash, Touya was thrown into the ground as Cheren decked him across the face.

"Alright moron," Cheren chuckled, helping Touya up. "Bianca's probably waiting for us."

Touya nodded and took his friend's hands and then promptly pulling him down and slamming his foot into Cheren's stomach. Cheren winced before rage took over and he rammed his elbow into Touya's face. The two of them rolled away from each other and stood up, adrenaline rushing through their blood.

"You bastard!" They roared in unison as they charged at each other. "You're going down!"

* * *

"Oh, you're back!" Bianca cried as she rushed to greet her two friends as they made it back into the center. "Wait, why do you look so worn out?"

Worn out was an understatement. Touya had bruises all over his face and Cheren's glasses were completely cracked. The two of them were covered in a thick coat of dust and they looked positively exhausted.

"Oh, just talking things out." Touya replied.

"Indeed, just clearing the air." Cheren agreed.

The two of them limped towards their table and Bianca let out a sigh. She would never understand boys.

* * *

And there's chapter three; hoped you enjoyed it!

.


	4. Chapter 4

Cheren stepped out into a remote clearing, a serious expression on his face as the gears in his mind began to turn. The sun shone brightly and it was a beautiful day; conditions were perfect for what he needed to do. Glasses shining in the glare of the daylight, he released Severus out of his pokeball, who was looking much better after his loss yesterday. Many of the snivy's cuts and bruises had disappeared but Cheren didn't miss the rather deep gash on his starter's side. Righteous anger flooded through the young trainer's system and he resolved that the next time they would cross paths, he would destroy N.

Severus glanced at his trainer with a concerned expression as he gently pressed against the lasting wound on his side. Yesterday's battle had probably been his worst yet and his injuries still haven't fully healed. Bitter shame overcame the snivy as he forced down the stinging feeling throughout his body. He needed to get stronger; he refused to let his trainer down. Cheren looked down at him and nodded and the grass starter promptly settled into a fighting stance; this part was going to suck.

"Tranquill, go."

With strong determination and mild dread, Cheren released another pokeball and his Tranquill was loose. The wild pigeon pokemon let out a shrill cry and quickly took to the skies for the first time since his capture. He soon took notice of his new trainer and with an invigorated sense of hostility, Tranquill dived down, ready to attack the fool.

Cheren's eyes widened and dove away from the attack. Seeing his trainer in danger, Sev jumped into action and lashed out at the pigeon pokemon with a series of vine whips. Tranquill snarled and swung his wing at the grass type, a wing attack, and Sev was knocked back. Cheren swore as the grass type hissed in pain and quickly began to formulate a way to fight back. Tranquill wasn't holding back and he didn't have Touya or Bianca to back him up.

"Sev, use slingshot!" Cheren ordered. "Launch yourself in the air! Once you've done that, spin while releasing Vine Whip!"

Sev obliged and shot himself up in the air. Hurdling towards Tranquill, he began to spin and released his vines, creating something like a physical tornado. The maneuver proved effective the blunt trauma proved fairly effective against the flying type and forced it into the ground. The wild pigeon however recovered quickly and took the air once more, shooting an angry glare all the while. He saw the look in the pokemon's eye; he wanted to hurt him.

The idea that one of his pokemon was so willing to cause him harm was unsettling, but Cheren stood his ground, Bianca's advice repeating again and again in his head. Try to find an understanding with it; that was easier said than done. He never was one for understanding really, his strengths tended to lie in techniques and strategy. The job of understanding and feelings was always delegated to Bianca or Touya. That being said however, the bespectacled trainer wasn't without a few methods himself.

"My father would always tell me that one real way for men to understand each other would be through their fists." Cheren said, glaring right back at his temperamental pokemon. "He was a rather belligerent man and I never really saw eye to eye with his beliefs; I always thought they were terribly barbaric. Still, right now I think Father's barbaric teachings are just we need right now. Sev, use leaf tornado!"

He barked the order out at Sev and the grass starter immediately whipped his tail aggressively, creating a gust of leaves that enveloped Tranquill. Cheren heard an angry squawk from the bird and motioned to Sev to keep his guard up; Tranquill was certainly going to retaliate now. True to his prediction, the flying type burst out of the the leaf tornado and rushed toward the two of them in a high speed tackle; a quick attack. Cheren grabbed Sev and dove away from the attack before releasing his starter from his grip and ordered a slingshot tackle. Sev obliged and using his vines to grip on two nearby trees, he shot himself into the air and rammed right into Tranquill. The flying pokemon let out an angry snarl but quickly recovered as Sev landed back to the ground. Glaring at the grass type, he tucked his wings and flew up into the air with impressive speed. Happy with his altitude, Tranquill then shot down back to the ground, wings outstretched and ready to strike. Sev got into a defensive position, ready to take on whatever his opponent had in store for him while a feeling of dread overtook Cheren. He wasn't sure if it was just the sunlight playing tricks on his eyes, but he swore he saw Tranquill's wings take on a shiny metallic hue.

* * *

XxxxX

* * *

"What is it?"

Touya crouched down on the dirt path on the outskirts of Straition City, Bianca right behind him, as the two of them examined what had just happened. In the background, Terri the lillipup shook her head in stunned pain from the recent blunt impact and Chesire the purrloin sat back, looking rather pleased with herself. Touya picked up the random item and flipped it in his hands like the hard boiled detectives did in the movies and glanced over at Bianca.

"It's a coin." He remarked; looking rather stunned. "How the heck did that happen?"

"I don't know!" Terri whined, the pain against her forehead still stinging. "Chesire's the one that did it!"

Chesire however simply shrugged. "Don't ask me; I've always been able to do that."

Touya didn't say anything, keeping his attention on the coin. There was no doubt that Chesire had created the coin in the middle of battle. He had read a long time ago about an attack that entailed creating coins and using them as projectiles but it was native to a completely different species in a completely different part of the world.

"Touya," Bianca started, interrupting him from his thoughts. "Did Chesire just use Pay Day?"

"Is that what it was called?" Touya remarked, his suspicious confusing changing into giddy excitement. "Awesome, I was wracking my brain trying figure out the name for it!"

"But I thought that attack was exclusive only to the Meowth line in the Kanto region?" Bianca asked, tilting her head to the side. "A purrloin shouldn't be able to know that attack..."

"What's a meowth? Sounds weird," Touya commented, scanning Chesire with his pokedex. "And the pokedex says its possible for Ches to know the attack so it's probably okay!"

Bianca scanned the grinning dark type with her own pokedex and got the same results as her friends. In spite of the information before her, she frowned a bit. Regardless of how much of an airhead she was, Bianca wasn't an idiot. There was a definite fallacy in logic in this situation and she couldn't place her finger on what it was. She glanced further down the road where Cheren had disappeared to and wished he was back; he would be able to figure it out.

Touya on the other hand didn't look too worried, in fact he looked downright happy. "This is great!" He gloated. "I have a pokemon who can make money! I can buy all the slushies I could ever want!"

"Really?" Oz remarked, sitting in the sidelines, twirling her scalchops in her hand. "You've stumbled on seemingly infinite wealth and you're going to spend it on slushies?"

"You're right," Touya admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Think of all the hamburgers I could buy too!"

"Please don't tell me you're hungry again," the familiar, grouchy voice of Cheren said. "We just had lunch a few hours ago."

Touya and Bianca turned to face their friend and gasped in shock. Cheren looked exhausted and his clothes were dirty and torn with what looked like a sharp blade. Judging from the grey feathers studded in his hair, they were able to guess he had been trying to train his Tranquill again.

"Your bird beat you up again?" Touya remarked with a snicker.

"What happened to your shirt?" Bianca asked, pointing to the large tear exposing his pale torso.

"...long story..." Cheren sighed, closing up his jacket. "Don't want to talk about it. Just want to go back."

Touya and Bianca shot each other a look but decided not to pry. Deciding they had trained enough for now, they quickly gathered their things and headed back to Striation City. They had arrived there a few days ago and the area was just as lively as ever. Touya let out a happy sigh as the smell of food wafted into his nose as they passed through the gates; the food here was awesome.

"So do you think we're going to be ready for tomorrow?" Bianca asked. "I mean we are challenging our first gym leader!"

"As long as we stick to our respective strategies, our endeavors should result favorably." Cheren replied as he tried to ignore the odd stares he was getting; he needed to get a new shirt.

Touya let out a cocky grin and punched the air in a display of confidence. Tomorrow the three of them would face the Striation Gym Leaders; he couldn't wait. "It'll be fine!" He yelled, adjusting his cap. "This is what we've been working towards! We'll definitely show those guys what Nuvema trainers are made of!"

"Do you ever tire of being so needlessly loud?" Cheren groused.

"Do you ever tire of being such a stick in the mud?" Touya retorted.

"Do you ever tire of trying retaliate with such weak clichés?"

"Who at you callin weak?"

And with that, the three of them made their way back to the center, their vitriolic joking somehow filling them with confidence for the day ahead.

* * *

XxxxX

* * *

Touya wasn't what you would call an attentive person. It wasn't that he was stupid, in fact he was very smart, but the boy had the attention span of a sugar rushed pachirisu and hated standing still. As a result, the formal atmosphere of the Striation City Gym did not sit all that well with him. The delayed, somewhat showy display the gym leaders were treating them was even worse.

"Welcome," the quiet, admittedly somewhat fidgety Cilan said, stepping towards the three trainers.

"You must be," the demure Cress continued.

"Our new challengers!" The hot headed Chili finished.

"Welcome to the Striation Gym,' The all said at once, giving a bow.

Touya's foot tapped in anticipation as he ignored Bianca lightly slapping him on the arm to stop. Sure it was probably rude but he couldn't help it. It was his first gym battle! He wanted to fight; he needed to fight.

"Hell yeah we're your challengers! And I'll take all of you on if it means I can get my first gym badge!"

"Don't be rude you idiot!"

"Yeah Touya, show them some respect!"

"I am being respectful guys! I'm showing them just how much I wanna thrash em all to bits and show them my strength!"

"What kind of twisted definition of respect do you have?"

While there existed many different kinds of trainers, if one had to choose a title of great prestige, it would probably have to be Gym Leader. These trainers were considered the region's elite and spent their time testing the abilities of any trainers who wished to battle them. They were the guardians that stood between the normal trainers and league level fighters and as such, commanded the respect of all who stood before them. Each leader had their own specialty and unique fighting styles and the Striation Gym Leaders were no different. The triplets were known for playing type advantage and as a result, were considered some of the most frustrating fighters in Unova.

"Hey Cress, I like these kids!" Chili laughed, grinning at their antics.

"They are quite interesting," Cress admitted. "Professor Juniper had notified us that her three students were coming to challenge us...perhaps it's them?"

"Professor Juniper's students or not, let's do our best to show hospitality to our guests." Cilan said. "May we offer you a match?"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Touya cheered. "So who am I fighting?"

"I'll take the nerdy guy!" Chili grinned, walking towards an indignant Cheren. "I'm Chili; hope you you're ready to lose cause this is gonna be hot, no, hotter than hot!"

"My name is Cress, young lady," Cress said, approaching Bianca. "May I have this battle?"

"Which leaves you and me, Mr. Hot Head." Cilan remarked, giving a bow. "My name is Cilan; let's both do our best."

And with that, the Striation trio summoned their respective pokemon; pansage, pansear, and panpour. The elemental monkeys jumped in anticipation, raring for battle before charging at the three of them. Not missing a beat, Touya, Cheren and Bianca each pulled out a pokeball and released it.

"Ganny!"

"Sev!"

"Oz!"

"Let's fight!" The three rookie trainers yelled in unison.

Letting out a battle cry, Oz drew her scalchop and rushed towards the pansage who had already summoned a mass of vines to defend itself. Despite the face of type disadvantage, the water type wasn't deterred and weaved in out the attack, avoiding each of the vines. She let out a cocky smirk every time the vines failed to hit her; it seemed like all that training with Smugleaf was paying off!

"Nice dodging Oz!" Touya cheered. "Now close in and clobber him with a fury cutter! After that, follow up with Tackle!"

She obliged and slashed Pansage with the scalchop which had taken up a light green hue. The attack was weak but managed to stun the grass monkey long enough for Oz ram her head into its stomach. Pansage was knocked back several feet but managed to regain its foot as it shot the smug looking Oz an angry glare.

In the meantime, Cheren was having his own problems against Chili and his pansear. Those fire attacks were dangerous and even with Sev's high defenses, he wouldn't be able to take too many hits.

"Make sure you avoid those flames!" Cheren ordered. "Don't worry about attacking just yet; just focus on getting closer!"

Pansear quickly grew annoyed and began to fire attacks at an increased gusto. As Sev kept dodging, a smile began to form on Cheren's face; the fire monkey was falling right into his trap.

"Panpour, use water gun." Cress commanded. "Let's finish this quickly."

"No chance!" Bianca cried. "Ganny, power through it and tackle!"

Despite the fact all three starters were facing a typing disadvantage, Ganny was having an easier time than the rest of them. Being a juggernaut had its advantage after all. The fire pig dodged the blasts of water and rammed right into Panpour, sending it flying. Not giving his opponent a chance to recover, Ganny then shrouded himself in flames and knocked his opponent further back with a Flame Charge. The attack was surprisingly effective and the heat overtaking the battlefield left the water monkey badly winded. Ganny however wasn't finished and followed up with a high speed tackle attack.

"Such power..." Cress murmured, beginning to look worried.

"That's not even the half of what my Ganny can do!" Bianca cheered. "Now finish him off with another tackle!"

Ganny let out a roar (or oink) and charged right into Panpour again, ramming him right into the wall. The attack proved to critically injure the blue monkey, causing it to faint. Cress, recognizing his pokemon was no longer able to battle, recalled Panpour and gave Bianca a polite smile. Similarly, Oz had managed to slash Cilan's Pansage with another Fury Cutter which also proved much stronger than the last few slashes. The super effective attacks eventually wore the grass type down and it promptly fell over, completely out of stamina. The realization hit both Oz and Touya and the two of them jumped in giddy triumph.

"Hell yeah baby!" Touya roared.

"Suck it you stupid monkey!" Oz laughed.

Bianca and Ganny celebrated in kind but the two trainers quickly remembered Cheren and quickly turned their attention to their friend's battle; how was he faring? Honestly neither side was making much progress as Pansear was unable to hit Sev with his flame attacks while Sev was forced to keep a safe distance. Despite that neither side was unable to gain an upper hand, Cheren had a rather confident look on his face.

"You're doing just fine," He encouraged. "Just keep dodging a little while longer!"

Like everyone else watching the battle, Sev wasn't entirely sure what his trainer was planning. Right now all he was doing was dodging to avoid being reduced to a snake barbeque and he was running out of energy; how could they win like this? Glancing at his trainer's determined look however, the grass starter pushed back doubts in his mind and just kept dodging. If Cheren was anything, he was smart and he would put his trust in him. So he kept dodging and in response, Pansear grew more and more frustrated and angry. The fires were becoming hotter and hotter...and then for some reason cooler and less intense. Eventually all that could come out of the fire monkey's mouth was just plumes of smoke. A panicked, alarmed look crossed Pansear's face and he turned to Chili for guidance who looked just as shocked and horrified as he did. Sev caught Cheren's satisfied smirk and the realization dawned on the snivy's face; his opponent had literally run out of firepower! Mimicking his trainer's grin, Sev ducked his head down and rammed right into the exhausted Pansear, effectively knocking it out.

"And with that," Cheren commented, pushing up his glasses. "I believe this is our victory."

"Aw damn it!" Chili groaned, hanging his head in shame as he recalled Pansear. "...I guess you won though."

"There's no shame in it." Cress said, slapping his hot blooded brother on the back. "They were very skilled trainers."

"Indeed," Cilan smiled. "It was a marvelous battle...and with that, I believe these belong to you three."

And with that, he held out his hand and presented three very recognizable metal objects. They were composed of three diamonds, colored blue, red, and green framed in gold. They were the coveted Striation City Trio Badges and they were beautiful...and both Touya and Oz couldn't stop drooling over them.

"The Trio Badge," Cilan explained. "Take them; you've all definitely earned them."

"...t...thank you so much!" Bianca stuttered, feeling starstruck. She had just earned her first badge! Not bad for a baby who was supposedly too weak to leave home!

"Thank you, I'll wear it proudly." Cheren said with fierce determination. His first badge...his milestone to becoming the champion!

"...uh...uh..." Touya mumbled, the prospects of winning his first badge and its shiny appearance had apparently short circuited his brain.

"Uhh...Touya?" Bianca asked, looking worriedly over her dazed friend. "Are you alright?"

"...oh God...I think his brain broke..." Cheren sighed, looking embarrassed before turning to the Gym Leaders. "My apologizes, my friend's brain is tragically limited."

Everyone else laughed at that but Touya paid no attention to the ridicule. He was too engrossed in his own thoughts. He had just achieved the first step in the badge quest; an impressive feat indeed. And with that, just about everything seemed possible for him as a trainer. He could do anything...everything...nothing...the possibilities were endless! The dreams were flooding into his mind and for just a brief, beautiful moment, he felt as if he could do anything.

And then he felt something bite his head.

"Ow OW!" Touya yelled as something bulbous clutched to his skull. "What the hell? Get this thing off me!"

Both Bianca and Cheren stared incredulously as a large pink pokemon clung to their friend's head. They weren't entirely sure whether or not to panic or laugh. Feeling it was better to do something first and mock later, the two of them grabbed the pink pokemon and attempted to pry it off him the blue clad trainer.

"Touya don't worry!" Bianca yelled.

"It's eating my brains!" Touya whined.

"That's fine!" Cheren yelled, helping Bianca pull the pokemon off. "You never had much brains to begin with!"

"Ah screw you Cheren! Now get this thing off me!"

"Munna, get off that boy right this instant!"

A young bespectacled woman in a lab coat entered the gym and at her orders, the pink pokemon, known as Munna let Touya's head go and promptly returned back to her. Touya regained his bearing and quickly glared at his assailant but was interrupted by Oz's hysterical laughter.

"Hey, you damn otter; aren't you supposed to protect me?"

"...can't...couldn't...too...too busy...too busy laughing HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Why you little...!"

But before Touya and Oz could commence killing each other, the Scientist jumped between them. "Please stop," She pleaded. "It's my fault; I wasn't watching Munny. Please don't be mad."

"Not to be rude," Cheren interjected, crossing his arms. "But who are you?"

"Oh right," The scientist gasped, looking embarrassed. "My name is Fennel...and by any chance are you Professor Juniper's students?"

"Yes we are," Bianca answered. "Did you have any business with us?"

"Yes, I do!" Fennel replied, bowing down to the three of them, which was admittedly a little weird since she didn't look that much older than them.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my research!"

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XxxxX

* * *

...I'm a bad man...a very bad man...and with this chapter and promises of faster, more frequent updates I ask you my readers, for your forgiveness and patience. I'm sorry this took so long but alas, as a student currently working towards a double major and bout a million other projects including a musical that's been taking up most of my time, things have been getting in the way

...and also there's the more feeble excuse of my old nemesis Writer's block. The Striation City part of the game was always an...annoying aspect of the game for me; I never particularly knew how I was going to write this one out. But alas, that part is finished and now I have a chance to get into some of the other ideas that have been plaguing me so.

But for now, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!


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